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Why French club Reims are fined £22,000 every time their 30yrs old English boss manages a game

Published

1 year ago

January 30, 2023

Reims are fined £22,000 every time their manager Will Still takes charge of a match, but you can understand why the French club are happy to take the financial punishment.

After snatching a point away at league leaders Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday night, Reims are now unbeaten in 12 Ligue 1 matches – a run stretching back to September.

Neymar gave PSG the lead early in the second half but Folarin Balogun’s dramatic equaliser in the sixth minute of stoppage-time kept Reims’ unbeaten run intact.

Are Reims fined when Will Still managed them?
The club’s 30-year-old manager, Still, has a fascinating story.

Born in 1992, the half-English, half-Belgian coach is Europe’s youngest manager and still studying for his UEFA Pro License.

Because he needs the license to take control of a Ligue 1 team, Reims are subsequently hit with an eye-watering (€25,000) £22,000-per-game hit every time they play.

Asked if that’s taken out of his wage, Still told the Daily Mail earlier this month: “Well, it’s been, sort of, negotiated.

“The club said: ‘We’re ready to invest in your career. just as long as you keep winning!’”

Still admits that managing against some of the world’s best players including Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar blows his mind.

He said: “You reflect on it and think, ‘Why the hell am I doing this? How am I in the position to be coaching against these guys?’”

How Football Manager helped Will Still become a coach

But he’s in such a lofty position that he is partly due to his love of Football Manager.

“I was just like a normal kid playing Football Manager,” he insists.

“I spent nights where you get to 10 o’clock in the evening, thinking, ‘Ok one more game.’ And then you end up at 4 o’clock in the morning: ‘Oh, I’m still at it.’

“But what I realise now, the crazy thing is it’s actually so realistic.”